Stamp.



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2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

PATENTED'JAN.14, 1908.

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APPLIGATION FILED MAY 13,1907.

0-. s. ANDERSON.

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M 3% L m %%W W No. 876,677. PATENTED JAN.14, 1908.

G. S. ANDERSON.

STAMP.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13.1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2. I

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. Columbus,

UNITED STATES anion.

STAMP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 14, 1808.

Application filed May 13. 1907. Serial No. 373.268.

To all whom it may concern." I

Be it known that I, CHARLES S. ANDER- SON, citizen of the United States, residing at in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful lmprovem cuts in Stamps, of which the the difficulty of preventing following isaspecification. v I

My invention relates to stam sand has for its object the provision of a device of this character constructed in suchmanner that 1t is automatically locked against further movement after it has been actuated a given number of times.

method of placing postage stamps upon mail matter, causes a annoyance to business houses having large quantities of mail to send out. The process of placing a mucilaged postage stamp upon eachletter to be sent eut,ais necessarily a slow one. Some of the larger business houses have many thousands of pieces of mail matter to be sent out every day and the task of applying the stamp is a heavy one. It is customary for the post office department to authorize the franking of certain mail matter such as newspapers and to permit the send er to'pay for this mail matter in bulk. This rivilege has not so far been extended to etters' andother first classmatter owing to fraud in the exercise of the privilege.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a stamping machine, the body of which is to be retained by the user,said body being adapted to receive a magazine which when laced in position, renders the machine capab e of being operated a given number of times, after which the machine automatically becomes locked until the magazine is again reset by a key which is to be retained by the post-master at the local post ofiice. This magazine will be so arranged that when it has been placed in position, the machine may be actuated either one-thousand or ten-thousand times as the case may be. lf-the magazinc is arranged to permit the machine to be actuated one-thousand times, the user may by paying to the post oflicc department the sum of $20.00 secure the magazine which,

will enable him to stamp one-thousand pieces of first class mail matter with a two cent frank or stamp.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in thedetailed description which now follows.

great deal of trouble and- In the accompanying drawing: Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine constructed in accordance with the invention, Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the machine, Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical section through the machine, Fig. 4 is a transverse section upon the line a1-a3 of Fig. 3, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow, Fig. 5 is a trans verse section upon line y-y of Fig. 3 looking in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a magazine hereinafter ascribed, and, Fig. 7 is a view indicating the character of the stamp applied to the mail It is a well known fact that the present matter by this machine.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts in all of the figures of the drawing.

j Referring to the drawing, the numeral 5 designates a base, which su orts a hollow casing 6. A plun er 7 is sli ably dis osed near the front ends of this casing am this plunger carries ears 8. S ools 9 are mounted in these cars and an inkin ribbon 10 extends from one of these spoo s to the other. One of the spools is provided ,with ratchet teeth 11 which are ada ted to en age a pawl 12 which is located in tlie path 0 movement of said spool, see Fig. 1', will be hereinafter set forth. Aspring 13 normally holds the plunger '7 in an elevated position. A numbering die or stamp 14 which carries an identifying number such as that indicated at the lower side of Fig. 7, is carried by the plunger and this number identifies the machine in which any given piece of mail matter has been stamped. The stamp proper indicated in the upper )ortion of Fig. 7, is carried by a stamping oot 15. This foot is carried upon the outer end. of a lever 16, said lever being pivoted at 17 to the rear wall 18 of a magazine 19. .This magazine comprises a box-like body portion to turn the spool as 20 and forwardly projecting side walls 21.

Steps 22 are preferably arran ed along its outer walls, said steps being adapted to engage with corresponding steps 23 of the casing 6. By virtue of this construction, a magazine having a different arrangement of steps, would not fit within the casing 6 and it is necessary in order toplace the magazine in position for it to be actuated, that the steps of the magazine and themaehine in which it is used, correspond.

A fixed rod 24 is carried by the magazine casing 20 and a plurality of numbering disks are mounted upon this rod. These numbering disks form part of an ordinary numbering [to bail: the magazine within the base.

' downwardly. 2 5

machinesuch as is well known in the art and which requires no further description, the arrangement belng the usual arrangement in which the unit disk 26 after one complete revolution, actuates the tens-disk 27 one tenth of a revolution and in which the tens disk after one complete revolution, actuates the hundreds disk 28 one-tenth of a revolution and so on. I Each of these disks is provided with a radial notch 29 and the units disk is provided with ratchet teeth 30 which are adapted to be enga ed by a pawl 31, said pawl being carried by t e lever 16, the throw of said lever being such that each time it is depressed, it actuates the units disk onetenth of a-revolution.

A look 32 is provided with a bolt 33 which sna s into a locking notch 34 of the base .5 A longitudinally disposed horizontal bar 35 is supported between ears 36, said ears being carried by the wall of the magazine. spring 37 normally tends to force said bar A latch bar 38 is mounted to swing upon the rod 2;. A spring 3?: normally holdsthe lever 16 in an elevated posi- 'tion As long as the bar 35 is in an elevated position, the a tch bar 38 lies in the position illustrated in Figs. i and 5, at which time a nose e0 carried by the lower end of said latch bar'is withdrawn irom beneath the lever 1d and the stamp foot 15 may be acafter set forth.

. with mail matter.

tuated as will be hereinafter set forth. A cam disk 41 is mounted to turn with relation to pne of the ears 36 and this disk may be turned by inserting a key 12 through the end of 'themagaeine and turning the disk 41. The rotation of this cam disk elevates the bar 35 for a urpose which will he herein- This is accomplished by having the high portion of the car 1 disk act against and force the bar-35 up during the rotation of said cam disk.

The operation of the device is as follows: When all of the notches 29 of the disks of the counting device, register with each other and with the bar 35, said bar descends under the influence of the spring 37 and prevents movement of any of the disks of the counting device by engaging in said notches. At this time the machine ,is locked, for since the units disk cannot rotate, the lever 16 cannot be actuated and consequently the stamping foot 15 cannot be forced into engagement The key 42 is retained by the postmaster. Downward movement of the lever 16 is also prevented by the nose 40 of'the latch bar 38 at this time, for the downward movement of the bar 35 will throw said nose beneath the lever 16 (see Fig. 5). "When the bar 35 is in an elevated osition, however, the nose 40 of the latch ar 38 will be thrown to the left in Fig. 5 and from beneath the lever 16 by a spring 45. This leaves the disks of the counter erase free to rotate and the plunger 7 may then be actuated ten thousand times. The counting disks are visible through openings 16 and 17 formed in the wall of the magazine and the wall of the casing 6, respectively.

When it is desired to stamp a letter, the letter is placed beneath the plunger and the plunger depressed. This bring the identifying die 14 and the stamping foot 15 into contact with the letter and through the inking ribbon 10 which asses beneath the plunger, the imprint of t 1e stamping foot and die 14 is left upon the letter. During the downward movement of the plunger, no movement is imparted to the ribbon, but upon the upward movement f. the plunger, the pawl 12 engages the ratchet teeth 11 to actuate oneof the spools and to move the ribbon 10' a slight distance to thereby present a fresh inking surface upon the next downward movement of the plunger. After the plunger has been actuated 9,999 times, the next stroke of the plunger will bring the notches 29 of all the counting disks into alinement with the bar 35 and said bar will then snap into said notches to lock the mechanism against further movement until the magazine is removed from the body of the machine and carried to the post ofiice, where upon the payment of the proper amount, the postmaster will again set the machine for operation, it being understood that during the operation of the machine, the bar 35 rides over the upper face of the counter disks.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that simple and efficient means are herein provided for .tccomplishin the objects of the invention, but While t e elements shown and, described are well adapted to serve the purposes for which the are intend ed, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction set forth, but includes within its purview such changes as may be made within the scope of the a pended claims.

at I claim, is:

1. In a device of the character described, the combination with a base portion, of a removable magazine adapted to be inserted within said base portion, a stamping member carried by said magazine a manually operable plunger carried by the base portion adapted to enga e and depress the stamping member when the magazine is in position within the base, and means for locking said stamping member against movement after it has been actuated a predetermined number of times.

2. In a device of the character described, the combination with a casing, of a removable magazine adapted to be inserted within said casing, a counting member carrie by said magazine, a stamping memb a plunger carried by the casing and adap l to depress said stamping member, and ke con-' eing carried by mg said stamping member against move.-

member against movement after it has actuated a redetermined number ofgtimes.

.3. In a evice of the character de cribed,

the combination with a casing, of a remov .able magazine adapted to be inserted within said casing, a counting member carried by said magazine, a stamping member carried by said'magazine, a plunger adapted to depress said stamping member said plunger the casing, means for lock- Inent after it has been actuated a predetermined number of times, and an inking mechanism for said stamping member.

4:. In a device of the character described,

the combination with a plurality of counting disks, and means for locking said disks each having a notch in its periphery, of a key controlled locking member adapted to enga e in said notches, a stampin member Whicl i when actuated actuates said counting counting member against movement after it has been actuated a predetermined number of times.

5. In a device of the character described, the combination with asupporting base, of

a magazine adapted to be slipped Within said base, a plunger carried by said base, a stamping member carried by the magazine adapted to be depressed by said plunger, a key controlled locking member, means for locking said stamping member a ainst movement after it has been actuated a predetelimined number of times.

- 6. In a device of the character described, the combination with a base comprising a hollow casing, a magazine adapted to be slipped Within said casing, interlocking members'between said magazine and said hollow casing, a movable stamping member carried by said magazine, a key controlled locking member adapted to look said stamping member against movement after it has been actuated a predetermined number of times, and

a plunger carried by the casing which is adapted to actuate said stamping member.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses. I

CHARLES S. ANDERSON. Vvitnessesz FRANK G. CAMPBELL,

L. CARL STOUGHTON. 

